Butterfly Effect
by 50shadesofink
Summary: My first story..originally posted on Archive but now also posted here. Yay. Tsume happens upon an injured Naruto while out shopping...and everything changes. Featuring a calmer and more powerful Naruto with eventual Kiba/Naruto...like way later.
1. A chance meeting

Tsume sighed as she walked along the streets of Konaha. She would have liked nothing better to do than spend her first day off in two months relaxing at home with her kids, however, it was the only day she would be able to run all her errands. She had just finished buying practice kuni for her youngest ,Kiba, when she smelt a hint of iron in the air. I would know that scent anywhere she thought as she discreetly shifted her bags in one hand and rested her free one on her pouch. Taking another whiff of air she followed the scent to two streets over. The stench of the overflowing garbage cans almost overpowered her senses. There must be lot of blood if it can overcome that she grimaced as the smells got stronger. She momentarily debated on whether she should make a shadow clone to contact the hokage but didn't want to cause a big scene over what was probably a bar fight. After all the Red Light district is only a few streets over she thought. Despite this, she put her bags down and took out a kuni before cautiously stepping in the alley. At first glance, it looked like the fight was already over. A large pool of blood formed a puddle on the ground and there was a few spatters of blood along the walls. Deciding to head back to and inform the hokage, she was stopped when she heard a whimper. It was barely heard even with her sensitive hearing and she jerked around in surprise. She was never caught off guard like that. Heck she could hear a person breathing from across the took another look at around but didn't see anything strange. She was conflicted. Her hearing was never wrong but... she just didn't see anything. She ran her eyes across the small space.. a couple of trash cans, some empty cans, crumpled up paper.. there, she thought she saw a slight flicker. Of course! She barely refrained from the urge to slap her forehead. A genjutsu. She focused her charaka before quietly but forcefully "Kai". Immediately she saw a sight that chilled her to the kuni dropped to the floor with a small "clang" and she almost fell to her knees Crumpled up in a small heap, a young child laid in an even bigger pool of blond hair was streak with blood and grime and his face was swollen to the point of being unrecognizable. A louder whimper broke her from her thoughts. 'Shit' she thought panic racing through her. Putting aside the rage that welled up inside her, she hurried to the child's side and scooped him in her arms. Not wanting to put him at more risk, she decided against shunun and started running toward the hospital, her arms wrapped protectively around the small bundle. The minutes that passed were some of the most agonizing of her life and tears fell uselessly, nearly obscuring her vision as she jumped from rooftop to rooftop. As a mother of two, children were her weak spot,and seeing one in pain drew out all rational thought and replaced it with a overwhelming need to do something to help. Her arrival to the hospital brought an small sense of relief that was overshadowed with trepidation. What if she was too late? She didn't want to think about it. She carefully arranged him with one hand while the other flung the door open, almost breaking it off the hinges. The receptionist glanced up and almost jumped out of her seat. Tsume was frantic " GET SOMEONE NOW!". The receptionist stared wide-eyes at the woman. Before Tsume could rip her head off, one of the doctors hurried in. "What can I.." the doctor glanced at the bundle, first in shock that was quickly replaced with anger. " Get that _thing_ out of here" She snarled in disgust. Tsume reeled back in shock "What.." It was as if she had stepped into a different world, one that was completely foreign to her. She had never heard of a doctor refusing to treat a patient before. Her surprise quickly turned to panic. " You HAVE to, he'll die, he needs help, pl..". She was interrupted again "Good." she stated simply before turning around. Tsume looked around wildly, seeing her entrance had drawn the attention of a few doctors and nurses, all of which were looking away pointy. A wave of pure terror washed over her as she felt his heart stutter. He drew up an gasp, his whole body arching in her hands,before his heart gave one last beat.. and stopped.

A cry of grief escaped her as her body crumpled to the ground, still holding him paused to stare at the sight before them, but still, no one moved to help. She gently pushed his hair back and took a second to realize she had never got the chance to see his eyes. Her heart clenched painfully and a chocked sob escaped her.A quiet noise drew her attention back to the doctors and nurses that stood over the scene. Her rage came back ten-fold masking her hurt and confusion. Her charaka swirled under her skin, begging to be unleashed upon every single one of them. Red entered her

vision and incensed she moved to stand up. It was then that she realized the red wasn't coming from her. Instead, it leaked from the boy,slowly encasing him in its glow. She watched, entranced, a huge cut that she didn't even noticed before, slowly closed before her eyes. Then she hear the "thump, thump" of his heart, very weak but there. However,there were still several more cuts that she knew would become an issue if left untreated.. Suddenly. a scream was heard. The doctor that talked to her before was now draw up,face contorted in rage, "that.. that DEMON!". She stormed forward, a surgical knife in hand. Before she could reach them, several things happened in the blink of an eye. The first was Tsume taking a leap back in a protective stance, a kuni sliding effortlessly into her palm. The second,and more surprising, the hokage and several ANBU appearing in a swirl of leaves, one of which who quickly disarmed the doctor before shun-shining away with her. A silence descended. The hokage surveyed the room before his gaze landed on the two great strides he was in front of her. "May I?" he inquired softly, arms outreached. Tsume knew logically that she could trust this man, she had after all swore her life over to him the day she received her headband and each time she took a mission,but she thought she could trust the doctors too... and look where that ended up. For some reason, she felt tied to this stranger and knew she would protect him with all she had. The hokage sighed, before letting his arms drop, noting her reluctance."We need to treat him". he reminded her gently. Tsume worried her lower lip as she contemplated her didn't look too good. Choosing to place her faith once more in her leader, she held him out in offering, ignoring the stabbing pains in her chest. "Thank you." The Hokage murmured,holding the precious bundle to his knew she had made the right choice when he gazed down at the boy with pure love shining to the ANBU who stood as a barrier between them and the staff, he commanded "Bat, go get my doctor. Bear, make sure the room is ,(He turned toward an unnaturally stiff man with silver hair. I would recognized that hair anywhere, Tsume thought),make sure none of the staff leave." Here, the Hokage's eyes flashed coldly, and the man gracefully stalked to the front of the terrified group while the other two shun-shined out with a " Hai, Hokaga-sama." Still cradling the boy, he turned toward Tsume."He'll survive this."he promised and then more hesitantly "You can visit him tomorrow." before striding out the hospital.

Tsume was unsure on how to proceed. She was felt so emotionally drained. She briefly considered going after her Hokage but his clear dismissal and the fact that she'd probably just be in the way made her decide against ,she just wanted to go home. She realized with a start that her family was probably worried out of their minds by now. Outside, the bright light had already dimmed to an afternoon glow. She cast one more glance at the scene around her, noticing "Dog" pacing around the terrified staff, his hand suspiciously close to his kuni pouch. She knew he could get his point across the same if he was just standing in a corner but rather chose to scare them. "It seems like I'm not the only one who want to get payback." Already her mind was filling with various thoughts on how to do that. Before exiting, she turned towards

Dog and "Give them hell" she demanded. Not seeing his nod but trusting him nonetheless, she started on home.


	2. A little background

Tsume winced as the overly bright light streamed in from the window. She felt the usual exhaustion that came the morning after a particularly rough mission. Except...it felt different somehow. She groaned. Her head hurt...scratch that, everything hurt and she had a heavy feeling in her chest that didn't seem to be going away any time soon. "Oh, Crap!" she said,shooting up into a sitting boy, how could she forget. A light knock sounded from the door."um, mom, can I come in?"Hana questioned softly. Tsume vaguely remembered trudging home yesterday and giving a brief "I'm fine,just tired" ty o her family before passing out on her bed. She sighed "Give me a minute and we can talk". Kicking the blanket off, she knew why her daughter was so worried. there was blood covering her arms and staining her outfit from smell of stale blood cause her to wrinkle her nose in disgust.A shower sounded really nice right now.

10 minutes later she walked in to the kitchen to an uncharacteristic sight. Kiba normally rambunctious and full of energy staring silently at his plate and Hana cooking some fish, for once not out with her she finally sat down, a plate of food was laid in front of her without a word,while Hana busied herself cleaning up. Kiba still hadn't spoken a word. Breakfast was a somber affair as the three of them ,Tsume pushed her plate aside and let out a breath she hadn't known she had been holding. Hana looked up from her plate "Kiba, why don't you go make sure the dogs get their breakfast" she said evenly. Tsume started, Hana was always very mature for her age of course,but it seemed like she had grown up a lot since she became a Chunin a few months ago. Kiba looked like he was going to protest but changed his mind and walked out. "So" Hana began "You want to talk about it?"Tsume paused for a moment then nodded.

Tsume was finally on her way to the Hokage Tower after a long talk with Hana about the events from the day before, interrupted only with Hana's outburst after hearing and the doctors' a Healer herself, it was hard to imagine refusing a patient, especially a child on the brink of death. Eventually,she calmed down enough to listen to the rest of the story (with unhidden glee at the Hokage's implied retribution). Afterward, Hana promised to look after everything so she could visit the boy again today. Which lead her to where she was now, standing in front of the Hokage.

"Hello-Hokage-sama" a pause "I'm here to see the boy" she added, a bit unnecessarily."The boy?" The Hokage looked at her with an unreadable expression "You didn't figure it out yet then" he muttered pushing his chair back and standing "Well I guess it's rather understandable,considering all that happened." Tsume was confused, figure what out? The hokage stood at the window overlooking the village,pipe in hand. His pride and joy but also tainted by the cruelness of its inhabitants."Yesterday" he began "was the celebration for the defeat of the Kyuubi' Tsume blinked restraining the urge to tell him to get to the point. He smiled ,sensing her ire "It was also Naruto's birthday."Naruto...OH she thought ,feeling rather stupid at the she, who would rather face an A-ranked enemy shinobi (alone) than the council,had here that name cursed over and over again.(the demon comment made a lot more sense now.) "He just wanted to see the firework and I had a lot of paperwork to do.." her attention refocused on the Hokage "I sent him with two ANBU guards but he managed to give them the isn't the first time it happened of course. Over 12 assassination attempts in the past year, and countless mobs"Tsume felt that familiar feeling well up in her chest."Shop owners would either kick him out or give him spoiled food, the matrons at the orphanage ignored and belittled him,the council continuously calling from his execution...it seemed like no matter how hard I tried I was never enough. Two of his apartments were trashed before I started 24/7 detail on him. Poison was slipped into his food.." he turned to Tsume, who was struck by how old the Hokage looked."You can see now why I am wary of you, I've placed my trust in the wrong people before,Tsume, A mistake I can't afford with him."Tsume nodded mutely. "However,I've decided to give you this chance,not only for your loyalty to me over the years,but also because of the compassion that you showed yesterday." Tsume couldn't help but beam, and just like that the tension evaporated from the room. "Come on then" the Hokage gestured as he walked out the room.A little while later, it was obvious they weren't headed towards the hospital, a fact for which Tsume was glad and slightly disappointed. A house came into view, slightly secluded from the village with enormous iron gates in the front. The hokage made a small slice on his finger before pressing it to a small intricate seal on the gate.'Is this the Sarutobi compound?' Tsume wondered in awe as she noted that the house was more of a mansion, surrounded by smaller houses that appeared with this realization came a sort of numbing fact the Naruto was being treated here meant that the hokage considered him a very close friend if not on his speech earlier, she was guessing the was so lost in thought with this new revelation that she failed to notice they stopped until she almost ran into the door, stopped only by the hokage's grip on her shoulder. Embarrassed but mostly excited she allowed him to step in for a few minutes alone. Tsume was never any good at waiting, add that to her anticipation, she was a nervous disaster ,rocking on her heels until... "You can come in now." Tsume took a much needed breath before opening the door.


End file.
